English in business

English in business

"English is more and more
necessary for international business, but less and less sufficient"(Leonard
Orban, EU Commissioner for Multilingualism)

1 Pre-reading task. Discuss the following questions
in groups:

-People have always needed a common language to
communicate. What language have they used for this purpose in Europe?

-What language have European community had as an
international one in different periods of history?

-What language do you learn as a second language?
How can you apply the knowledge of English in your future life? What are your
ambitions?

2 Read the following statement. Do you agree or
disagree? Prepare arguments to support your view. “English is more and more
necessary for international business, but less and less sufficient”

PART I

3 Read, learn and keep in memory the following
expressions, try to use them in your own sentences:

-public funding

-tangible return on investment

-to benefit from learning a foreign language

-competition for public funding

-market failure

-insufficient language skills

-the revealing results

-inadequate intercultural skills

-small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

-the total value of smth

-a quantifiable benefit

-to undertake a number of studies

-export markets

4 Read the first part of the text

YOUR BENEFITS FROM LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

a) Why
should you learn a foreign language? That might seem like a stupid question,
particularly coming from a company that publishes
language-learning magazines. Surely, the more foreign languages you can speak,
the better. Yes, probably. But sometimes simple questions are not as stupid as
they seem.

Of course, it's easy to think of
reasons for learning languages. You can travel more easily, communicate with
more people, and learn about other countries and cultures. Languages can also
help you in your current job, or be an advantage if you want a new job.

b)
But look again at that last paragraph. It's all about "you, you,
you". You benefit privately from learning a foreign language. You benefit
in your career, language skills benefit society more generally —
for example, by improving international
understanding. And companies benefit from the language skills of their
employees.

c)
Anne Davidson Lund, a director of CILT, the National Centre for Languages in
the UK. says: “figures speak more loudly than words in a climate where language
learning is not an unquestioned right, where competition for public funding
for education and training is intense, and where the prize goes to those who
can show a tangible return on investment in termsof their nation'sbank balance. Can we win that prize for languages?"

d) Lund
argued that, if the business sector wants to secure more public funding for
foreign-language education and training, it must show that language skills
bring a quantifiable benefit to companies. Also, the business sector
must show that there is "market failure": that is, firms are not
currently getting all the language skills they need.

CILT has undertaken a number of
studies to look into these questions. The most important one was the 2007
"ELAN" study {Effects on the European
Union Economy of Shortages of Foreign Language Skills in Enterprise—
see box, page 19)
for the European Commission. This looked at firms in
29 European countries and
tried to quantify the value of contracts lost because of insufficient language
skills.

e)
The results were revealing. The report found that there was a clear link
between language skills and export success. And among a sample of 2,000
small- andmedium-sized enterprises (SMEs), 11
per cent said that they had lost contracts as a
result of a lack of language skills. (In most countries, ten per cent said they
had also lost contracts because of inadequate intercultural skills.)
Some of these contracts were worth over €1
million, with the average being €345,000.
The report estimated that the total value of lost
business to the EU economy because of poor language skills in SMEs was around €100
billion a year.

f)
The ELAN report identified four key elements of language management in
companies that were successful in export markets:"...
having a language strategy, appointing native
speakers, recruiting staff with language skills and using translators and interpreters".
An SME investing in all of these four elements was found to have an
export-sales proportion 44.5 per
cent higher than one that does not do so.

5 Read through the first part of the article quickly
once more. Match each sentence 1-7 to the sentence a-g that should logically
follow it.

1 Foreign languages can

2 You benefit privately

3 You can travel more easily, communicate with more
people and

4 Language skills benefit society more generally by

5 The prize goes to those who can show a

6 If you want to secure more public funding for
foreign-language training and educations…

7 Four key elements of language management for
success in export markets are:

a) it
must show that language skills bring a quantifiable benefit to companies

f)
tangible return on investment in terms of their nation’s bank balance

g)
from learning a foreign language

6 Think about the questions to paragraphs A-F which
require the answers, presenting the main idea of each paragraph.

PART II

1. Read, learn and remember the following
expressions, try to use them in your own sentences:

-to make recommendations for improving language
skills

-regional and minority languages

-linguistic diversity

-to gain a competitive advantage

-less sufficient

-mother tongue

-to deal with different languages

-the importance of implementing strategies for
developing the language skills

-disseminating best practices on language strategies

-targeting the official language

-to master the language of the consumers

-to have access to the behaviour and attitudes of
others

-to target English as a priority

-to meet companies’ language needs

-challenges facing multinational companies

-to integrate employees into their workforces

2 Read the text

COMPANIES SHOULD INVEST MORE IN
FOREIGN-LANGUAGE SKILLS

Following the ELAN report, Leonard
Orban, the EU Commissioner for Multilingualism, set up the "Business Forum
for Multilingualism" to make recommendations for improving language skills
in EU companies Orban speaks about the role of foreign languages in business.

1) Why is multilingualism so
important for the EU?

The EU already has 23
official languages, more than 60
regional and minority languages and hundreds of
other languages spoken by people originally from outside the EU. We now want to
make full use of this linguistic diversity. We want to show that, rather
than being a burden, it is an asset for the EU —
for cultural, educational and professional reasons.
Also, EU companies can gain a competitive advantage through foreign
language skills. But one of the main ideas from the Business Forum for
Multilingualism is that English is not enough. English is more and more
necessary for international business, but less and less sufficient.

2) So, how good are the language
skills of EU citizens?

We
are still a long way from our goal of every citizen learning at least two
foreign languages. Only 28 per
cent of European citizens are able to speak at least two foreign languages. And
nearly half of European citizens can speak only their mother tongue.

3) What role should companies play
here?

Companies should invest more in
developing the abilities of their workers to deal with different languages. I
think especially at the level of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
there is not enough awareness of the importance of languages other than
English and of the importance of implementing strategies for developing
their employees' language skills. So we have made a number of recommendations
in the report on ways to help firms. Of course, increased financial support
should be considered — at
the EU level, but also at national, regional and local levels. But we also
propose a new European internet platform for collecting and disseminating
best practices on language strategies.

4) But are language skills only the
companies' responsibility?

No, it's a shared responsibility.
The European institutions also have a contribution to make, but so do
the member states through improvements in their education systems. And so do
individuals themselves.

5) Latin is still one of the most
common foreign languages taught in educational institutions. Shouldn't this
time and effort be spent more usefully on modern foreign languages?

Our task in the European Commission
is to defend and promote the linguistic diversity in Europe. That
means targeting mainly the official languages of the EU. So, we look
less at languages like Latin or ancient Greek. But these languages, even though
they are no longer tools of communication, can be useful in terms of personal
development. So we are not against these languages. But we would encourage
people to learn a large variety of European languages. There are so many
languages — for
example, those of neighbouring countries in the EU, or of non-EU countries —
and people should choose whatever languages they
want.

6) When you say people should learn
two foreign languages, do you mean two EU languages?

No, Europeans should also learn the
languages of non-EU countries. For example, there are more and more Chinese
people who are learning European languages. But Europeans should also learn
Mandarin, Russian, Urdu, Japanese and so on. This will help not only
individuals but also our companies, and so help the Union to become more competitive.

7) But, surely, learning better
English is still the priority for many EU employees.

Of course, we acknowledge that
English is more or less a lingua franca for communication between
companies. And we are talking about the need for good English, because very
often people speak bad English. But when you are addressing consumers,
it is a completely different story. English is not enough. You need to master
the language of your consumers. For example, it has been shown that many people
in Germany don't understand advertising slogans that are in English. And we are
not only talking about language skills; we're talking about intercultural
skills. Teaching a language doesn't mean just teaching grammar, pronunciation
etc. It means teaching a culture, literature and so on. It means having access
to the behaviour and attitudes of others. We need to understand that
others may think in a different way. These are the sorts of skills that are
needed to do business in other places. So, while English will continue to be
important, companies should add other languages, and other abilities, in order
to become more competitive.

8) Which, then, are the most
important foreign languages for EU workers to learn apart from English?

That's not for us to say. It's up
to every company to decide which language skills they need, according to
their activities and plans. For example, some companies may target Mandarin as
a priority. Others may target Hindi. We don't want to tell the companies what
to do. We just want to tell them that languages are an important part of their
performance, and that they should consider this seriously.

9) Don't firms solve their language
needs pragmatically by, for example, hiring people from other countries who
speak two other languages as well as their native tongue?

Yes, in many cases, companies do meet
their language needs by finding the right people to employ. On theother
hand, as politicians, we have to think about all European citizens and give
them the chance to become more competitive and to find better jobs. It is also
to the advantage of EU companies if they can find people in their own countries
with the necessary language skills. And, as we say in our report, one of the
main challenges facing multinational companies in the EU —
and society more generally —
is to integrate employees from different
nationalities and ethnic backgrounds into their workforces. And this
means that the training of existing employees could be the best option.

3 Match each sentence 1-10 to the sentence a-j that
should logically follow it.

1 EU companies can gain…

2 Only 28% of European citizens are able

3 Companies should invest more in

4 We propose a new European internet platform for

5 Our task in the European Community is

6 We acknowledge that English is more or less a

7 Teaching a language doesn’t mean

8 While English will continue to be important,

9 It’s up to every company to decide which language

10 One of the main challenges facing multinational
companies in EU is

a) collecting and disseminating best practices on
language strategies

b) lingua franca for communication between companies

c) a competitive advantage through foreign language
skills

d) integrate employees from different nationalities
and ethnic backgrounds

e) companies should add other languages and other
abilities in order to become more competitive

f) to speak at least two foreign languages

g) to promote the linguistic diversity

h) skills they need, according to their activities
and plans

i) just teaching grammar and pronunciation, but also
a culture, literature and so on

j) developing the abilities of their workers to deal
with different languages

4 Read through the article, part two once more. Try
to summarize in a sentence what each paragraph 1-9 is about

5 Read the questions which are the headings of the
paragraphs 1-9. Answer the questions. Don’t look into the text.

! Home assignment: get
ready to speak about the problems of multilingualism in European community. For
more information use the following sites:

routine: I
start the day by prioritizing. Then I force myself with the things that are
important and don't allow myself to be distracted. I choose a quiet time
in the day to delete unimportant e-mails.

What's on my desk that shouldn't be
there: Sweets. Bits of paper that I have picked
up more than once and then put down again, rather than dealing with them.
Private photos that have been there for a month and that I haven't yet sorted
out.

Biggest distractions: E-mails.
People don't distract me because I am good at politely getting rid of those who
disturb me.

My biggest time-waste: Thinking
about private things I can't do anything about at work, especially things that
happened in the past and that might happen in the future.

Top time-management tip: Decide
what is important by asking. If this was never dealt with, would it matter? We
tend to think of ourselves as two people -
a work person and a private person. But we should
integrate the time-management skills we learn at home at work, and vice
versa.

The first thing I do in the
morning: Prioritize! I open my e-mails, print out
the ones I need, walk to my secretary's office, where the printer is, collect
them and then order them on my desk Then I use them to write my "things to
do " list. My
time-management sin: Waiting until the last minute to do smaller writing
jobs. This is bad time management. But I haven't yet let anyone down. The
biggest nuisance on my desk: The pile of papers I don't really want to
throw out but don't quite know what to do with. At some stage, I'll go through
them and throw most of them out. My biggest time-management achievement: I've
stopped trying to change colleagues who are negative. This caused me more
stress than anything else. Top time-management tip: Set an exit time every
day. If you know that you have to leave at a certain time, you'll make sure you
get the important things done. You won't get everything done, but you have to
stop somewhere if you want to have a life outside work.

Focus on doing only those things
that bring income: Ask yourself, "If
I had a heart attack and had to work two hours a week, what time-consuming
activities -e-mail, phone calls, conversations, paper work, meetings, dealing
with customers, etc. - would
I cut out?" Used even once a month this question can keep you san and on
track. Fold a standard piece of paper three times to make a small to-do list: Never
have more than two critical items on it.

Decide which items are the most
critical: Ask yourself, "If this is the only
thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?" Put a
post-it on your computer screen with the question, "Are you inventing
things to do to avoid the important things?" Accomplish more in less time
:Leave work at 4 p.m.
and take Monday and/or Friday off. This will force you to prioritize and work
more quickly. Use short deadlines to force immediate action and ignore
unimportant things.

Answer e-mails twice a day: Have
the automated message telling people the two times in the day you read your
message and refer them to voice mail they need you urgently.

Unit 3

DECISION MAKING

1 We
cannot not make decisions. Even when we decide not to decide, this is a decision
. Read the questions below, think and answer them:

Have you ever been taught decision
making? When, where and for what reason?

What exactly is decision making?

What are the key steps in decision
making?

What makes people take bad
decisions?

What kind of decision maker are
you?

2Read
the article by Bob Dignen from Business Spotlight (6/2008).Pay special
attentionto
and memorize the vocabulary in bold type.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

International business is a world
of complexity, ambiguity and paradoxes. Decisions are often made on the
basis of limited information, which makes risk management an essential discipline.
And instead of the clear top-down decision-making structures of
the past, organizations now expect individuals and teams to work autonomously
at all levels. Greater cultural diversity has also widened the range of
decision-making styles and processes, and increased the potential for conflict.

1What
is decision making?

Most people would argue that
we take business decisions to reach personal, team and organizational
goals and that the art of decision making is simply to choose the right
option from a range of possibilities. But, in
practice, decision making is more complex.

First, the motivations behind our
decisions may be less rational and strategic than we think: political loyalties,
beliefs, environmental constraints, ethical factors and even
irrational motives may play a significant role.

Second, decisions are not isolated
events but part of a context of decision making.

2Key
steps in decision making

To understand decision making
better, it helps if we break down the process into various steps:

a)Decide to decide. The
first step is to recognize that a decision needs to be taken to achieve a
particular goal. This may be easier for some people than for others. Those who lack
self-confidence ox fear risk may be indecisive, preferring
to wait and see what happens rather than
acting. Others may decide to act too quickly without
thinking through the consequences, and
so may be seen as impetuous.

Cultural issues may also be significant.
In some national or organizational cultures, only those in senior
positions can "decide to decide". In collective cultures,
this decision may be a group process, which could require time to get a
critical mass to support. This can be frustrating to those from
a more individualistic culture, but rushing this process could
lead to decisions that do not have wide acceptance.

b)Collect and evaluate information.
Effective decision making requires reliableinformation. But you should not collect so much information that you end
up confused and paralyzed.
Indeed, it will often be impossible to collect all the relevant information
in thenecessary
timeframe. A certain information risk is often
present. It can help to involve others in
the information collection process to get as wide a range of opinions as
possible. This provides
not only better insight, but also potentially greater involvement
in the implementation
of any decisions.